Cowboys on movies - why do they manually move the hammer, instead of pulling the trigger?

Valso

Ever since I can remember myself I've noticed that on all cowboy movies they manually move the hammer of the revolver when shooting, instead of just pulling the trigger. Why's that? Does that make the revolver shoot faster or is it something else?

Cowboys on movies - why do they manually move the hammer, instead of pulling the trigger?
Cowboys on movies - why do they manually move the hammer, instead of pulling the trigger?
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